Wheelworks.co.nz, Handbuilt wheels by Tristan Thomas

Asher’s old XC-717 rims had been used with v-brakes and were badly damaged from braketrack wear.  Time for a rebuild and a great time to upgrade to tubeless as well as increase the durability and stiffness of the wheels.

The XM-819 rims were not our first choice – we were going to use Stan’s ZTR Flow’s but they’re currently out of stock and Asher couldn’t bear to wait :-)  The 819’s will do just nicely:  They’re a bit heavier but extremely stiff and will be extremely durable as Asher’s riding style changes from XC to more jumps and aggressive riding.  The spoke nipples are held to the rim by threaded carriers – these are a complete PITA to build with but the result is one of the truest rims (in both the vertical and horizontal) on the market once up to tension.

His Onyx hubs were in great shape so it made sense to re-use them.  While not as light as the higher-end DT Swiss hubs the Onyx are a great hubset.

After Patrick’s Edge’s tubulars Mrs Patrick got a bit jealous and wanted a new pair of wheels for herself :-)

These wheels use the versatile XR-270 rims laced with bladed CX-Ray spokes.  The front hub is a 66 gram Alchemy ELF and to save a few extra grams we opted to use a Tune Mag180 rear hub.  The Tune Mag180 is around 183grams which is one of the lighter all-aluminum hubs on the market and despite the light weight durability is surprisingly good!  The rear wheel 24 spoke and is laced 2 cross on both sides.

The wheels are pictured with a Shimano Ultegra 9 speed cassette and Ritchey Snap-on rim tapes.  I use the Ritchey rim tape on almost all of the road wheels I built – they’re light but do a great job.

The front wheel weighs 606g, the rear is 756g, so all-up the wheelset is 1362 grams.

With a new tubeless rear tyre, the SKS fenders fitted back on, and a new Fibre Flare bolted in place my Salsa is back in commuter mode.  I’ve had the cushy cyclocross wheels fitted during the past week because of a sore shoulder but the unrelenting rain has meant wetter-than-normal commutes to the office and a dry bum trumped shoulder pain.

The Fusion2 tubeless tyres have been great but the rear finally gave up the will to hold air after being attacked by a large section of beer bottle.  I’ve had a lot of interest about the tubeless tyres but no sales.

The Salsa La Cruz is one of the nicest bikes I’ve owned – very well mannered either on dirt or pavement, not overly heavy, and the discs do an amazing job.  I haven’t ridden my Litespeed for months!

The KinLin rims are fantastic and becoming quite popular world-wide…despite this there is nowhere I’ve seen which has a comprehensive list of specs and pros / cons of the rims.  Specs are at the top of the page, general pros and cons of these rims are below.  Please ask questions if there is something I have not covered.

For wheelbuilders / industry guys you’re welcome to use this info but please credit the source by linking to this page.

Model name: Kinlin XR-300
Clincher

Average weight: 460g

Drillings: 16, 18, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36

Rim width (at brakepads): 18.5mm
Depth: 30.3mm

ERD: 579mm

Model name: Kinlin XR-270
Clincher

Average weight: 445g

Drillings: 20, 24, 28, 32, 36

Rim width (at brakepads): 19.6mm
Depth: 26.6mm

ERD: 585mm

Model name: Kinlin XR-200
Clincher

Average weight: 388g

Drillings: 20, 24, 28, 32

Rim width (at brakepads): 18.4mm
Depth: 22.3mm

ERD: 595mm

Model name: Kinlin TB-25
Tubular

Average weight: 440g

Drillings: 18, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36

Rim width (at brakepads): 18.8mm
Depth: 25.2mm

ERD: 589mm

Pros:
Excellent stiffness to weight ratio
Extremely durable (even the XR-200)
Available in a wide range of drillings.

Cons:
Pinned joint (although joint seems are quite smooth)
Brake pulse not uncommon
Brake surface perhaps softer than other rims. Brakepad choice is important.
Brake surface is narrower than some rims

Brakepads:
Any brakepad designed for alloy rims will work. I suggest KoolStop Salmon pads as they will leave the brake surface unscathed and offer excellent brake power and modulation in all weather. Brakepad lifespan is still good.

No front wheel can be without it’s matching pair so Jeff dropped off his rear hub for a rebuild.  The old-school Tune hub needed some fresh bearing so I used my bearing press to fit some shiny new SKF units, then laced the wheel to a ZTR Olympic rim.

The non-driveside spokes are the very light DT Swiss Revolutions with alloy nipples, the driveside spokes are stiffer (and heavier) Competitions with brass nipples – this will give a great balance of stiffness and durability for this wheelset which is used for both general riding and racing.

This hub is quite old and slightly different to the modern Tune hubs: The freehub body uses 4 pawls and springs rather than three, and the axle extends from end-to-end rather than the driveside endcap ‘extending’ the axle on newer versions.  In some ways the lack of fundamental changes show the durability of the Tune design – it really works well for such a light weight hub.

Some pics on Picasa

I’ve been testing a few designs of new rim decals and have come up with these.  They’re vinyl-cut, UV-stabilized, very high quality, and I think they look great.  I stocking them in a good selection of colours and having custom colours is no problem.

What would you like your wheels to look like?

Thanks to BikeSnobNYC for the idea, background reading and the original quote from Velonews here and here.

The R-Sys was a bad idea from the start.  They’re not that light, they’re not aero, they’re horrendously expensive, and the carbon spokes will try to impale you should you crash. Spending money on a poorly-performing wheelset is almost understandable when they look cool, but spending money on a downright dangerous product is just dumb.

Alistair races Pro-Elite cross-country but I think he was daydreaming of being a pro downhiller and pretending to keep up with Steve Peat :-)  The resultant crash put a pretty significant buckle in the 334 gram ZTR Olympic front rim.

Despite this crash damage the Stan’s rims, even the really light ones, are amazingly durable.  I’ve only had a few wheels which needed to be rebuilt because of rim damage and in every case there was a spectacular story which accompanied the wheel.

Some pics of the rebuild

I was stoked to build these wheels – it had been a long time since I built with Hadley hubs.  Hadley are quite a unique company, very small and based in California with no websites and no easy way of finding or contacting them…despite they’ve built a passionate following because their hubs are so good.

The rear hub has 72 engagement points and is easily convertible from 135mm to 150mm with either 10mm QR, 10mm thru-axle or 12mm thru-axle.  The front is a 20mm thru-axle.

This wheelset uses double-butted DT Swiss Competition spokes and red anodized aluminium nipples.  The rims are Stan’s ZTR Flow – the freeride rim from Stan’s which weight 460 – 470g.

Pics!